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Writing poetry can be fun-really fun. It can be relaxing, and can help you clear your mind….UNLESS it is a graded assignment to be turned in on google classroom. My personal definition of poetry is spilling words out onto a paper in a naturally flowing rhythm to clear your mind of that thought or issue. It can be enjoyable. The enjoyment is ripped from the process when there are guidelines to follow and specific elements to be inserted. I still like poetry, just not in the classroom atmosphere where it is beaten to death with a wet mop. With that said, writing the poetry at the degree of complexity we were expected to, is far worse than simply reading and slightly analyzing a poem in class. Why do we need to write poems when there are writers upon writers who have already written millions of poems? Why are we cluttering the world with more pathetic, poorly written, amateur poems when there are so many precious, well-known works of art that have yet to be analyzed by the bone. Seems like a waste of time and utilities to me.

Poetry is such an undermined word. There is so much more to the fancy stanza forms and complicated rhythmic forms. Each line contributes to some amazing story full of detail. I believe that if students weren’t assigned analytical homework and even classwork with time limits, they’d find more enjoyment in poetry. What saves me and keeps me motivated to complete our assignments is my love for music. I understand that modern music is more or less poetry with music added to it. In fact, it IS poetry in which music is played to. The music is used to help the audience feel the tone and mood of the poem without having to think about the meaning behind the lyrics. So I guess I just concluded that music is poetry for dummies. I think we should just start analyzing songs instead of historic poetry. It would be far more interesting for the majority of students, and students would be more likely to successfully associate the different elements of poetry in songs.

After being pushed and pushed to pick a six word short story, I finally relaxed enough over it to choose, “She lied. He cried. She died.”. I feel the same about imaginative writing in school as Mr. Moser feels about decaf coffee- if you don’t need it to function here and now, don’t worry about it. It was quite a struggle and took three brainstorms of other six word short stories to figure out, but I think I finally have it. I really don’t agree with how were are being asked to approach it. For me, it’s seeming very difficult to layout a story around a structure. I’d much rather just write what comes to mind and alter it as I go. As far as answering your second question, I don’t really understand what you’re asking. “Concept” is written three times and I’m not sure if you were talking or tired while putting the assignment up or if I am just simply not connecting the dots. It took me a while to discover my bases, but I think I have enough to start now. Answering specific questions in the point of view of my characters is challenging because I’m not used to framing everything right away, and I always worry about changing things as I go. I don’t want to submit an outline if I think I may end up changing one of the responses (which I know I will at some point throughout this process), especially when I doesn’t get returned and I can’t edit any assignment. However, once I got on the right train of thought, it all started coming to me and I buzzed through the Character and Setting Development paper. It’s difficult to answer a select few of the questions for my characters because I can’t even answer them for myself. The most common question asked among high school students is about what they want to do when they grow up. Our goals are constantly fluctuating and it results in us being so indecisive and added unnecessary stress. As soon as a student gives an answer, it is shot down or made to seem like something they don’t want. It’s a part of life, but it sucks. More or less, I’m ready to get this short story thing done and over with.

This was honestly the worst fair week ever. Very few good things happened this week. For starters, the horse barn cracked down on ridiculous rules and made everyone miserable. The heat was unbearable, even when I bought 4-6 bladder busters a day from The Best Iced Tea Anywhere Period stand. I buy so much tea there, I should get a punch card for there. PSA: their Blueberry tea is the best thing ever.

The worst part was that the arena footing conditions were not in our favor. It was out of our control, but very unhealthy for our horses, spectators, and ourselves. We have all lived through it with no casualties so far, and are praying for better luck next year. However, the thing that irritates me the second-most, was that the guys in the yellow shirts (security) were out to get me. It was Wednesday afternoon and a bunch of the drill team kids were bored and wanted to lighten the mood. There was a fake snake in the other aisle of our barn, so of course, we “borrowed” it for the week. I tied it to a roll of thin wire and ran it across the street and stuck it behind a trash can in the shadow. I’d slowly drag it out to where the shadow met the sun and when someone got close i’d give it a good tuck so it would go across their feet or right in front of them and it would scare the $#!t out of them. Most of them would laugh and keep walking. Some would give a good scream and jump out of their socks trying not to step on it. I had an audience of people that I already scared sitting on the benches watching me scare other people. All it took was one old hag to ruin the fun. Someone forgot the mechanics of walking and drug their foot under the wire and then went to the livestock office and ratted us out. So some big “Barto” guy game and scolded us- blooming onion breath and all. That was’t the only time, either. I couldn’t win. But you know what, they better not forget me, because I’m coming back with bigger and better plans for next year *smirky face*. Not to mention, the rubber band battles got pretty heated by the end of the week. Most importantly, I got the privilege to honor the ones we’ve loved and lost through our drill team performances; those moments there were the ones that meant the most.

Pearl Harbor was directed to be viewed by people who weren’t well educated on the attack on Pearl Harbor or World War II in general. The existing theme of this movie is “don’t let any man pull you low enough to hate him but forgive him instead”. In this story, childhood friends Danny and Rafe come to a crossroad when Rafe volunteers for a mission overseas and is assumed dead and it’s all a mess from there. This theme is found through both setting and character.

The movie is set around December 7th, 1941, better known as “The Day of Infamy”. The situation in which the characters are in opens the door for love to scramble around almost wherever it pleases. Evelyn (Navy nurse) is evaluating the pilots for their eyesight. While Rafe’s eyes are not good, flying means the world to him and Evelyn passes him. They meet again, and promise each other a date. In the midst of Rafe’s romantic evening for her, he tells Evelyn that he plans to go and fight alongside of the English during the Battle of Britain. They write to each other, until Rafe is reported dead after his plane went down in a mission. Back in Hawaii, Danny checks in on Evelyn and they naturally begin to feel protected by one another. They then fall in love. When Rafe is sent to Hawaii after being rescued, turmoil is created between the best friends. This interaction supports the theme because Danny did what no friend should ever do, or have to do…and Evelyn let him. However, when Japanese fighter planes began to fly over the island, Rafe forgave Danny enough to go with him to the hospital to offer any help to Evelyn, and then jump into action with their fellow pilots to fight off Japan by air. Without the attack Rafe may have never stepped back to see the bigger picture, and he wouldn’t have forgiven Danny. The best friends are chosen to go on a raid to return the favor to Japan. Both Danny and Rafe’s planes run out of fuel, and land in a Japanese patrol area. Danny takes the bullets intended for Rafe and dies. Rafe then forgives Evelyn, and becomes the father figure to Danny’s son.

The theme about forgiveness is very fitting for this chick flick set in the middle of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Rafe rises above the cards he’s been dealt and honors his late friend by caring for Evelyn and little Danny instead of allowing the great hatred he could have had for both of them.

The past several years, we have always covered at least a unit or two of short story elements, and that of novels. However, we’ve covered it more this week than in other grades, and used a lot more unnecessary terms. Not gonna lie, literary terms vs anatomical terms…. i’m most likely going to study anatomy harder because it is something i care about. I like to read, but doing this analyzing and picking everything apart is pointless to me, because i honestly don’t see myself in a profession in writing short stories or analyzing or anything of the like. Therefore, my view on short stories or any story for that matter has not changed. Digging way, way waaayyyy down deep, down into the depths of my memory, into every emotion i have towards every story, i’d have to say that this lesson has changed… nothing. The only understandings I have learned of is McGarry’s opinions on movies, books, and authors. J.K Rowling was dumb for having the “stock character”, or the wise old wizard, Dumbledore, simply give Harry advice about how to defeat Voldemort as a young boy instead of having most powerful wizard in the world (Dumbledore himself) vs second most powerful wizard in the world. I learned the McGarry thinks that Stephanie Meyer is either really smart OR dumb and accidentally lucky because her Twilight series is stupid and she somehow made bank with it. Nicholas Sparks is a terrible author, but somehow attracts all the hopeless romantics and keeps them emotionally involved enough to keep them coming back for more. So, not much change in how I view short stories. That observation may alter as we go through the next week of school, but as for now- nada.

School. What a lovely word. The gossip, the tension, the drama, our football team. All things that none of us want to talk about. Honestly, we all have opinions about who should play where but none of us have control over it. School is just so stressful, but we’re all here for a reason. Whether it be by law or because we have big dreams of big careers. Whatever it is, we’re all here. And no where else, so if im stuck writing blogs every weekend for the rest of the school year, so be it. It could be better, but it could be worse.

I’ve been dreading the beginning of this school year since the end of last school year. Many juniors (now seniors) warned the upcoming juniors that it was the hardest year yet, and some seniors had agreed. After some of the minor struggles of sophomore year, there was no way I was looking forward to this year. No way at all, EXCEPT for the fact that I am one year closer to getting out (even though everyone says these are the best days of my life). Not to mention, I get to drive my Jeepy to school every day :). My experiences with guidance post sophomore year and over the summer were miserable and frustrating. I started my schedule with Culinary Arts in my schedule. TERRIBLE. THE MOST MISERABLE CLASS EVER. I love to eat, but that was totally not worth it. I was, however, interested in Bio II, because I like the sciences and enjoy learning of subjects that I’ll use later in life. So far, I really enjoy Anatomy & Physiology and Bio II. I love Dodge’s fast pace (i’ll probably regret that on the first test-day) and I enjoy learning about how life works. It’s a domino effect- 1) I like the subject and what we cover. 2) If I like it, the chances of me paying attention are much higher. 3) Paying attention means I SHOULD do well. 4) Good grades make everyone happy. Domino effect. Next is the underclassmen. I REALLY DON’T LIKE MOST OF THE UNDERCLASSMEN. Sophomores don’t understand work ethic, they have no respect for teachers and no classroom etiquette. If they had dynamite for brains, they’d have enough to blow their nose. I learned that Roli almost took a swim with alligators. And my favorite movie is still Pearl Harbor, BUT i recently watched The Notebook the whole way through and the ending still has me shook up, and movies don’t make me cry. With that being the most recent to get to me, its the favorite at the moment. I just enjoy the hopeless romantic story-line of the movie and I am now motivated to read the book. To finish, I am really content with having Murphy pd 11 to end my day in a relaxed class. Cheers to junior year!

Allegiant, written by Veronica Roth, is the third book in the Divergent series and is a science fiction. Allegiant was published on October 22, 2013 by HarperCollins and Katherine Tegen Books. Allegiant keeps you wanting to read more and more of it because you can’t wait to find out what is going to happen next. In the beginning, Tris is in jail for being a traitor, which was discovered in the last book. She lies her way out of jail and is taken in by a group of people called the Allegiant whose goal is to get out of the city and overthrow the government. Tobias and Tris break Tris’s brother, Caleb out of jail and join the Allegient. They then get on trains and truck and go beyond the fence. Eventually, they make it to “the Fringe”. Once they reach civilization, the group has to be tested to see if their genes have healed and if they haven’t, like Tobias, they are rendered into the “genetically damaged” camp. Tobias meets a girl named Nita who claims she wants to help put an end to the camp for genetically damaged people but ends up being a traitor and wants to kill everyone by using a death serum. In the end Tris gets shot trying to save people and dies as she is unleashing the memory serum. As a whole, Allegiant was definitely an amazing read. It was terrible when the main character died, but at least the readers can know she died doing something for the good of others. I would definitely recommend this book.

Along with many other readers, I read the rising novel, Me Before You, by Jojo Moyes. It is a realistic fiction novel that was published by Penguin Books on January 5, 2012 in the United Kingdom. This story is definitely one to make you feel as if you’re living in it; it creates an emotional and romantic mood throughout it’s whole. I would definitely recommend this book to those who have a place in their heart for sappy love stories, and as with almost all cases, the book is significantly better than the movie.

I think that the most impacting element that this story has on the reader is it’s setting. In this novel, there is a 26 year old woman who has grown up in a working-class family. She has few qualifications and lands a job caring for a quadriplegic man. Will Traynor had the perfect life, and after a traffic accident, he is stuck in a wheelchair with limited use of his upper body and no use of his legs and back. Time after time, Louisa attempts to foil his plan to live life miserably and she tries to help him see that he still has places to go, views to see, and people to meet. Will remains bitter to Louisa, and she becomes cold-hearted towards him as well. Through all of her attempts of adventure for him, Louisa Clark and Will fall in love. Will’s mother learns of his plan to go to Dignitas (assisted suicide organization in Switzerland), and she respects his wish as long as he promises to live 6 more months. Louisa takes him on an exotic vacation and they connect like never before. Will then decides that it is better to tell her of his plans now than to wait any longer. Louisa feels that she has failed her mission to make him choose life. The mood throughout the novel makes the reader feel involved; Will’s choices that affect Louisa also affect the reader. Moyes uses her power to connect the reader and crush them with a sad ending.

Even though the ending of this story was by far the worst I had ever read, the entire novel as a whole makes up for it with the love that Louisa has for Will. The sacrifices made and the differentiating emotions pulls the reader in, and that makes this an amazing novel. Because what’s a better than feeling like you’re one of the characters yourself?

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It’s the second week of the school year. We’ve been asked in many of our classes to state goals that we want to meet by the end of the year. I’ve determined that one of my goals is to end the year ranked 7th in my class, or higher, to beat my rank of 8th last year. I’ve also made it a goal to not let any class grades slip to below a 93 at any point in time. Aside from that, I just want to be successful and have a smooth ride through sophomore year without any major bumps in the road. I want to make as much of this year as I can because in what seems to be no time at all, I’ll be a senior…and with that, you now know my expectations.